To find the origin of Boultham we have to go back to the time of the Romans
when a group of potters are known to have worked the local clay in kilns,
these kilns are known to have been built in a long row - remains of these kilns have been found
in and from
the Carholme Racecourse
to Swanpool, the fields south of the Pike Drain,
Boultham Park, St. Helens Churchyard, the Allotment sites east
of Boultham Park Road and Hall Drive.

Further confirmation as to the existence of these kilns has been confirmed
with hours of archaeological research and the discovery of numerous artefacts.

Cremated remains
complete in an urn were found in a kiln flue in the fields south of the Pike Drain.

Some years ago a perfect Roman grey-ware pot containing fine cremated remains was
unearthed in St. Helens churchyard by a gravedigger.

Archaeological research shows this pottery industry to have been
at its peak in the third and fourth centuries AD.

The transformation of Boultham ( Boot-ham ) from a hamlet, village and then into
a large suburb began towards the end of the 19th century,
when houses were first built on Spike Island.

This was the beginning of New Boultham.

These houses with Waterloo Street being the main street are still today called New Boultham,
though now this is regarded as being the oldest part of the parish
and most of the original houses have long since gone,
( there may still be four remaining ).

This whole area in recent years has been heavily redeveloped
and today sadly the Tritton Road extension runs through most of it.

As the population increased the need for a church to serve these new inhabitants became a must
and so St. Matthew's Mission was built in 1912, a hall was to be added at a later date.

The Rev. W.W. Leeke ( later to be Canon - Lincoln
Cathedral ) became the Rector of Boultham
circa 1911, his long influential and productive incumbency of fifty-three years
was to see most of the major transformations in Boultham.

The old village of Boultham had once consisted of not more than than twenty-five houses,
the hall and the rectory which was to be found across the street from the church.

But - New Boultham had arrived and in the 1920s the parish was taken into the City of
Lincoln.

The building of the Swanpool Garden Suburb was to add a sizeable group of houses
in another area of Boultham.

Between the wars more dwellings and more people came to fill up Boultham Park Road
and the numerous streets off it,
such as the Hunt Lea Estate, Rookery Lane, Boultham Moor, the Lakeview Road Estate and Skellingthorpe Road.

The population continued to grow and as such St. Helen's Church,
which dates back to around 1200 AD
was by now far too small to serve its increased number of parishioners,
further adding to this was its location, which was by then too
far away from the housing developments.

So the need for a closer
place of worship became obvious, a solution was needed and in 1921 a site was acquired
on Skellingthorpe Road
and here St. Helen's Hall was built, this was to stand until it was demolished in 1967
and during its life served the growing population as a place of worship, a sunday school
and a venue for other social activities.

The need for another new and much larger church was ever more pressing and clearly something
had to be done.
At last, on the 16th of September 1939 a foundation stone for the Church of the Holy Cross was laid ,
the building was consecrated by the then Bishop of Lincoln
on the 21st December 1940.

A public competition for the design of this new church had been judged by Sir Charles Nicholson,
the winner was Mr. H.T. Rushton an architect from Birmingham.
This new church (Holy Cross) was constructed by Messrs T. Bowman of Stamford.

In tradition St. Helen had discovered the true cross on which Christ had died,
this new church was to be dedicated in the name of the Holy Cross.

The rise in population and building was to continue after the second world war,
rapid growth was to be especially noticed
in the Hartsholme Estate area, where the dual purpose church and hall of St. Mary Magdalen was built
and dedicated in 1958.

A new Church Hall was opened in 1967 when the old St. Helen's Hall was demolished.

By now the population had risen by thousands along with the numerous new houses
had come the need for new schools, shops and other places of worship.

Along Skellingthorpe Road can be found the Parish Church of the Holy Cross,
the Moorland Park Methodist Church which
was opened in 1952 and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul which was consecrated in 1968.

Further down Skellingthorpe Road just inside the boundary of the Hartsholme Estate is Prospect Hall a church of the Brethren,
which was originally opened in 1955, and has since been extended.

When the Church of the Holy Cross opened, sadly St. Helen's Church which had always been the centre of parish history
for more than eight-hundred years was to close its doors for regular worship.

St. Helen the Patron Saint - promoted the cult of the cross,
Helen was the person - according to reliable historical and recorded sources,
made efforts to find the true - original cross on which Jesus was executed.

Boultham Park which covers an area of approximately 20 hectares
can be found at the southern end of Lincoln
bounded by Boultham Park Road and Rookery Lane.

The Boultham estate originally belonged to the Ellison family.

Coulson Road Drain, Swanpool, Doddington Road Ballast Pits
and Lakeview Road Estate formed the boundaries of this estate
which was in total approximately 1,210 acres or 489 hectares.

Richard Ellison of Sudbrooke originally gave the estate to his son, Colonel Richard Ellison on his marriage in 1830.

The hall was rebuilt and very much enlarged during 1874
and was often thrown open to the public for events such galas and fetes.

Upon the death of Colonel Richard Ellison in 1881,
Boultham Hall was passed onto his son Lt.Colonel R.G. Ellison
who died in 1909, after his death the hall became vacant.

During the First World War the hall was put to good use as a convalescent home for soldiers,
after the war most of the land was sold to developers for new housing.

The remaining grounds ( 20 hectares ) were to be finally secured by
Lincoln City Council in 1929.

The grounds were laid out as a public park and the hall demolished in 1959.

Today the park serves as a green and pleasant oasis within the City of
Lincoln,
offering numerous facilities, which include bowling greens, tennis courts a putting green
and of course the lake which is very popular with local anglers.